Wednesday, February 24, 2016

It all happened already once before

The Lord, the God of their ancestors, had continued to send prophets to warn his people, because he wanted to spare them and the Temple. But they mocked God's messengers, ignoring his words and laughing at his prophets, until at last the Lord's anger against his people was so great that there was no escape.

So the Lord brought the king of Babylon to attack them. The king slaughtered the young men of Judah, even those in the Temple. He had no mercy on anyone, young or old, man or woman, sick or healthy. God handed them all over to him. The king of Babylon looted the Temple, the Temple treasury, and the wealth of the king and his officials, and took everything back to Babylon. He burned down the Temple and the city, with all its palaces and its wealth, and broke down the city wall. He took all the survivors to Babylon, where they served him and his descendants as slaves until the rise of the Persian Empire. And so what the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed.”